Basically, a Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that shows a visual presentation of individual project task over a certain period, for example, several weeks or months. It brings a living and collaborative way of a project's current state. Gantt charts can be used in different scale of projects from small business to enterprises. The idea of Gantt chart was developed and introduced by Henry Gantt in western countries.

Who Use Gantt Charts?

Nowadays people prefer to work across departments or teams to carry out their project, so employees may work under different managers. For instance, a UI wireframe design team may need to both communicate with the software development team and the marketing team for a new application. Furthermore, nearly everyone with different working background or experience can use a Gantt chart to a visualize project, but the most common types are shown as the following:

The Public Service Filed - Military Officers; Public Infrastructure Managers

Now, let's check out these roles in more details:

Gantt charts for Construction Roles

So far, Gantt charts are widely used in construction projects, especially for contractors, building firm sponsors, engineers, homeowners and government agencies to negotiate tasks. By using Gantt charts, construction managers can also easily pick related administrative team members, undertake site survey, purchase materials and utilities, plan layout, decide individual task sequence and keep key workmates in the loop by developing an information system.

Gantt charts for IT, Business and Public Field Roles

Academic researchers from leading educational institutions in the U.S.A. have introduced Gantt charts to some science departments for displaying research history of statistics. For the IT field, information managers from technology firms integrate Gantt charts for the use of system applications solution. Marketing managers or promotion coordinators also find Gantt charts are great for planning both online and offline activities to face any unexpected changes in last minutes. Moreover, in the banking and finance sector, managers from national banks can use Gantt charts to establish effective contact center for their VIP clients, or manager deposits, credit cards and loans.

Top Benefits of Using Gantt Charts

Gantt charts are really powerful, but you may not know the top advantages. Don't worry, we will go through the most important points together:

Quick and Clear Overview of Your Project

All the participants in your project can conveniently find out major parts and key points in the well-structured Gantt chart such as time, workmates, external partners, materials, budget, and task names etc. Therefore, it is quite easy for every member to know their specific duties and work for the same goal continuously.

Efficient Resource management

Team leaders can use Gantt charts to monitor the using amount of resources across different departments, for example, financial cost, working hours, materials or equipment, so as to appropriately assign tasks to team members.

Better Time Management

It could be difficult for project managers to estimate the finishing date of the project, but by using Gantt charts every member can clearly check progress and modify according to the completed tasks, ongoing tasks and the future plans. In this way, an optimized work-flow can be achieved.

Good for Team CommunicationandMotivation

All task details are clearly presented in a Gantt chart for all the team members to see and offer suitable comments. Besides, setting milestones in Gantt charts are great to offset working pressure especially for the long-term project. Therefore, everyone is on the same page to work for the same goal.

Free Gantt Chart Examples and Templates

The following free Gantt chart examples and templates includes the main categories of Gantt chart for construction management and business projects. Feel free to click on any of them to see more details.

How to Create a Gantt Chart with Software?

With an easy yet professional Gantt chart software, you can create charts based on many basic settings such as adding new tasks, deciding data formats and units, naming tasks, building task dependencies. Furthermore, you can manage resources and generate financial reports for your project. Feel free to click on the free download button to try more advanced functions now.